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Hidden Benefits of Amazon Prime Membership

10 Hidden Benefits of Amazon Prime Membership

DISCLOSURE – THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, MEANING I GET A COMMISSION IF YOU DECIDE TO MAKE A PURCHASE THROUGH MY LINKS , AT ABSOLUTELY NO ADDITIONAL COST TO YOU. I ONLY RECOMMEND THE THINGS I LOVE OR HAVE PERSONALLY USED.

If you are wondering why am I even promoting or publicizing the World’s largest eCommerce giant, let me clarify I AM NOT! Because honestly, I think if you are an online shopper or a smart saver then chances are you already know Amazon and it’s subscription service of Amazon Prime and are definitely aware of it’s global presence. 

Why should I even try selling what’s already selling like hotcakes??

Amazon’s buyer friendly policies, extensive variety of products, to-die-for discounts, hassle-free returns and excellent customer service combined make it the world’s largest online retailer and second largest offline retailer, only after Walmart. A staggering 62% of the US population has gone Prime. Globally, the number of prime members stands at a staggering 100 million, as of November 2019.

The reason(s) I am writing this post is to make you aware of some of the hidden benefits of being an Amazon Prime Member that you might not be aware of, as I was not, until a few days ago even though I have used the app and website for close to 6 years now. Another added reason is to introduce some amazing unmatched services that the store provides to it’s customers.

Plus, in this post you shall find some unbelievable and too good to be true offers, deals and discounts from Amazon, just for my readers that you shall not find anywhere else! Read on to dig them out. Happy treasure hunting!

First of all let’s start with the basics, the simple difference between an Amazon customer and an Amazon Prime customer is that the former is a free membership however the latter is a paid subscription.

You can still get a lot out of your normal membership. But with just one time annual payment of a very minimal amount of $119 or $12.99 per month, you open a door of shopping opportunities along with benefits that can improve your life and reward you with great savings too!

Simply put, If you aren’t a Prime Member already, then sorry to break this news – YOU ARE LOSING AN AWFUL LOT OF MONEY!!!

Wondering how? Let me explain. 

All of us have certain elemental needs – clothes to wear, groceries to stock up, technologically advanced gadgets to use, latest movies, series, documentaries to binge on, fresh food to gorge on, good music to listen to, exclusive video games to play with, unlimited storage for our photos (the most important requirement right now!), get the best and most discounted price for things without having to stand in a queue, never pay full price for stuffs– all this and more right from the comfort of our bed. Am I right?

Amazon Prime tick marks all these check boxes with just ONE-TIME ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION PAYMENT.

If that’s not reason enough to join the PRIME family, let me add on with the most important reason

Thanksgiving is just over a week away and Prime members get exclusive sneak peek into the latest deals on the app, add items to waitlist even before they have been launched and keep an eye on those by checking the countdown for its launch! Sounds good enough?? 

 

Here are some exclusive reasons for global shoppers to be a part of Prime Family:

1. Music

If you love listening to music this is a drool-worthy reason. Amazon Prime Members get exclusive ad-free access to over 2 million songs.

And if 2 million isn’t good enough, you can get access to over 50 million songs, if you sign up using this link (only for new customers) by paying 0.99$ for 4 months! (Offer valid until January 06, 2020) Cancel Anytime!

Yes you read it right, if you sign up using this link right now, in exchange for listening to all the music in the universe for four months all you have to pay is 0.99$ ONLY !!!! Later on, it’s priced at $9.99. Listen to them even when you are OFFLINE!

This is one golden reason for any music lover to be a part of Prime Family. 

Prime Reading kindleUnlimited

2. Prime Reading/Books

Amazon Prime Members get access to books, magazines and so much more from the Prime Reading catalog that can be read on Fire tablet, Kindle e-reader, or the Kindle reading apps right on the comfort of their own device.

Prime Reading Catalog is a treasure-house of all kinds of books – fiction, non-fiction, classics, bestsellers and the latest releases – a heaven for every book-lover. Try the one month FREE subscription of kindleUnlimited to enjoy access to over 1 million titles and browse latest magazine subscriptions!

And now a special deal for my readers, enjoy a SIX MONTH kindleUnlimited membership for just $29.97 instead of the regular price of $59.94Click here!!! Hurry, Offer Valid until only 31st Dec 2019

Now, Prime Reading is something which most people are aware of but what is a little lesser known added feature for Prime Members is Amazon First Reads.

This program gives members the opportunity to purchase a Kindle book right from the editors’ picks every month, before the official publication date—Prime members receive it for free. New titles are announced on the 1st of each month. With this feature readers get to read a book a month before its official release date!!! 

This is one amazing reason for a bibliophile, like myself, to be a part of Prime Family. 

 Also, when we are on topic of books, did you know that you could buy, rent and even sell used on Prime? Check out the deal below!! If you are a student or teacher or simply love indulging in technical studies, then this could be super beneficial for you to buy books at almost 90% off!! We have ordered a lot of used books from Amazon and all of them were in great shape and one couldn’t tell they were used until you pointed it out.

3. Audible

If you are a normal everyday ordinary person like me, then chances are you struggle to find extra time to pursue your hobbies. If you love reading books then its possible you have been postponing catching up with your to-read list and the pile of books just keeps getting larger with passage of time. How is it even possible to squeeze time for reading when there is a job to be done, chores to be tended, assignments to be completed, kids need looking after, cooking, cleaning, etc so much to be done? 

For people like you and me, Audible (Amazon Prime’s exclusive audio book store) makes it possible to keep up to date with your reading list. With over 470,000 audio titles, it is the world’s largest collection of audiobooks.  Unlike Prime Reading, Audible subscription isn’t a part of Prime Membership, it can be acquired by a monthly/annual subscription fees. For a free one month trialclick here, $14.95 per month after 30 days. Absolutely no commitments, cancel anytime!

The reason I kept Audible as a separate point from Prime Reading is that even though both are about reading and books, audio-books are total game changers by squeezing into your life and making room for themselves. I have grown up as a hardcover lover and books to me meant paper and ink but the day I used a Kindle I haven’t gone back to hardcovers as audio-books are just so convenient! If you have missed reading then prepare yourself to fall in love with Audible.

Give the gift of reading to someone who enjoys reading- a friend or a family member, a new mom or a busy traveler, someone who is desperately trying to make time for reading

Special deal exclusively for my readers, a FREE trial of Audible Escape (a collection of romantic titles) – listen to Unlimited titles and series from your favorite authors!!! It’s absolutely free for 30 days and unlike Audible or kindleUnlimited it has no limitations of borrowing any number of titles, it’s $12.95 after 30 months. (Offer valid until December 30, 2020)

4. Prime Video

Once you are a Prime Member (free trial or paid) you get access to unlimited streaming of videos and movies! Just get the Prime App on your television, login with your account and voila, you have so much binge watching to do! I have been hooked to Prime Video for as long as I can remember. Prime keeps updating its watchlist almost everyday with latest and best movies, serials, concerts, sports from all over the world in all the languages.

Even though Prime  Video is a known feature, what’s less known is the access to the channels like HBO, SHOWTIME, STARZ, CINEMAX, CBS, etc and a lot more right on the app without any extra downloads with one time payment which varies from channel to channel. 

Besides all this, you can also rent and buy movies in 4K prints.

I have watched all my favorite shows like Game of Thrones, Modern Love, Big Little Lies, The Good Wife, Suits, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Little Women (most recently)  on Prime. 

Get your free 30 day trial right here.

Here’s some extra lightening deals for my readers 

Twitch Prime

5. Twitch or Video Games

Amazon Twitch is a go-grabber for any video game lover. It’s a part of Prime Membership. 

Prime members receive exclusive promotions on eligible pre-order games! This is a solid reason to be a Prime Member if you love to indulge in video games or have a partner who does. Besides this Twitch TV users who link their Amazon Prime account get a free Twitch channel subscription every month, and exclusive access to free game content.

Start your 30 day commitment free trial here or gift it to someone you know who loves gaming. 

6. Free Shipping

I hate the apps and retail sites that make you pay for delivery and charge extra for rushing the deliveries!

If you hate paying for shipping and delivery charges then Prime is just for you.

Prime Members get

  • Free Two Day Shipping on eligible items
  • Free Same-Day Delivery on eligible zip codes
  • Free 2-Hour Delivery (PRIME NOW) on eligible zip codes
  • FREE Release-Date Delivery on eligible pre-order items
  • Free No Rush Shipping which rewards you for future purchases for not rushing your deliveries
  • Amazon Day – where you could select a single day of the week when you want all of your week’s shopping to be delivered – Isn’t that just amazing and such a marketing genius??

There has been times when our items were delivered in less than 24 hours even though the app showed they were going to be delivered after a day. Prime has proved time and again the best and most reliable way to shop because of their shipping commitments. I doubt there is any other delivery service that can match up to Amazon’s speed. 

Give the gift of Prime Membership to someone you love today, click here

7. Prime Pantry

Shop from a wide range of groceries and household items in everyday regular sizes without needing to drive to Walmart or Costco or any other retail shop (available only in certain regions for now). However this is not a free service and stands at a cost of $5.99 per order. 

Prime Members receive FREE delivery on Prime Pantry orders of $35 or more and can get access to great discounts and deals!

Prime Early Access - Lightning Deals

8. Prime Early Access

This feature is a boon especially during Thanksgiving, Black Friday deals and Amazon Prime Day. It guarantees the best and most discounts.Amazon Prime Day is the annual shopping holiday where Amazon offers huge discounts on almost all of it’s items and this is exclusively available to Prime subscribers.

A lightning deal is a special promotion offered for a very short period of time on limited items or quantities. Lightning Deals can be found throughout Amazon.com, and are available on the Today’s Deals page or Prime Day page. Lightning Deals are available, only one per customer, until either until the promotion lasts for the particular deal or the inventory is empty. We got our MacBook for a discount of $200 by “Watching the Deal” else getting a discount on any Macbook product is a tough deal to crack.

Prime Members can Watch a Lightning Deal and receive a notification on their mobile phone when the deal is about to start. 

In case of all the existing promotional discounts for a Lightning Deal being held by other customers, you see a Join Waitlist button. Learn more about Join A Waitlist and Lightning Deals.

9. Photo Storage

Probably the best feature for the tech savvy world of today overloaded with digital memories, looking for a safer and more secure place to store them.

Every Amazon member gets 5GB of absolutely free storage to save, share and access their photographs on desktop, mobile and tablet. 

Amazon Prime Members however get unlimited photo storage along with enhanced search and organization features.

I didn’t know about the Photo Storage feature until I became an affiliate for Amazon and dug deeper into their extra features and facilities. If you already knew about this feature then you surely are up to speed with your Prime Knowledge! I bet, you are not aware of the Family Vault feature, where Prime Members can invite up to five members to receive unlimited photo storage, and collect photos together. – Isn’t that just pure genius to include cloud storage for all the Prime Members without any additional cost??

10. Charity

Did you know that you could also do philanthropy while shopping on Amazon through AmazonSmile?

AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon with the same products, prices, and shopping features as on Amazon.com. The difference is that when you shop on AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Foundation donates 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to the charitable organization of your choice!! Now I say that’s something to smile about. 

Additionally instead of breaking or throwing away Amazon cardboard boxes you can put them to good use with Give Back Box, the recycling program in collaboration with Amazon. Just log on to GiveBackBox.com, provide your zip code and gmail address to generate a shipping label with tracking number. 

Once you have the shipping label, fill old Amazon box(es) with stuff you intend to donate and drop it off at your nearest USPS or UPS office. The donations go to the nearest local participating charities. 

CONCLUSION

Besides the above mentioned benefits there is also

  1. A subscribe and save for families that have signed up using Baby Registry where Prime Members get upto 20% discount on diapers and wipes.
  2. Fast and FREE grocery delivery on a wide selection of groceries including meat, seafood, produce, snacks and household essentials, with options for fast one- and two-hour delivery windows in select regions, courtesy of Amazon Fresh.
  3. Try before you buy feature from eligible items across women’s, men’s, kids’, and baby clothing, shoes, and accessories. You get seven days to try-on the items at home and you will only be charged for the items you decide to keep, courtesy of Prime Wardrobe.
  4. Home Services like House Cleaning, TV Wall Mounting, Smart Home Device Installation, Equipment and Furniture Assembly, Plumbing and Electrical, Handyman, House Painting, etc ; courtesy of Amazon Home Services.
  5. Easy and useful registries like Wedding Registry and Baby Registry
With annual subscription priced at $119 per year or $12.99 per month for normal people like us and $59 per year for students or $6.49 per month, Amazon Prime may seem a bit overpriced but if you compared it with the other retail sites and the dollops of benefits Amazon provides, the price seems just right.  There is also a discounted membership available to EBT and Medicaid cardholders which costs $5.99 a month. Amazon has established itself as the pioneer in the online shopping industry and if you are still not convinced, probably it’s time for a free one month trial

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Alpana Chand

Curator of words. Thinker of thoughts. Creator of Stories. Dreamer. Believer. Achiever. A Storyteller. A professional tutor and SEO freelancer.

This Post Has 5 Comments

  1. Cathy

    Great post. Even though I’m an Amazon customer there’s so much I didn’t know.

    1. amrit mohanty

      same here !!! been a prime member for 2 yrs, yet there is so much i didnt know. Thanks for letting me know …

      1. Storyteller

        Thank you very much for that positive feedback and checking out the post 🙂

  2. Shakti Mishra

    Prime membership is way cheaper in India and Prime music is free here unlike a nominal charge out there….

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